The USS Liberty Cover-Up: Paying Lip Service to George Washington

Considering Israel’s stranglehold over U.S. foreign policy, it’s more than a little ironic that “no Senate tradition has been more steadfastly maintained” than the annual reading of President George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address, in which he warned that “a passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils.” According to the Senate’s website, “Every year since 1896, the Senate has observed Washington’s Birthday by selecting one of its members, alternating parties, to read the 7,641-word statement in legislative session.”

And then consider what might have been going through the passionately attached Senator’s head that day as he read these words:

And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.